On the evening of March 11th, a harbinger of the horrors that were on the horizon for the United States arrived when the NBA swiftly stopped play following Jazz center Rudy Gobert testing positive for coronavirus. Nearly five months later, the teams with the 22 best records in the league arrived to complete the suspended 2019-20 season in a "bubble" located on the property of Disney World in Orlando. With playing resuming tomorrow to begin determining the seeding for the playoffs, here's a look at the 10 teams in the NBA Bubble that I believe have the best odds of lifting up the Larry O'Brien Trophy in this unprecedented season.
1.Los Angeles Clippers: Sure, there's been some unforeseen complications surrounding the Clippers in recent weeks. Montrezl Harrell is currently outside the bubble dealing with a family matter and Lou Williams is quarantined in his hotel room for the next week or so because he got busted making a pitstop at Magic City for some "wings" during his league-approved departure from the bubble to attend his grandfather's funeral in Atlanta last week. Even with these unexpected absences heading into the start of play, I still believe they have the best odds of winning the title. Kawhi Leonard just led a team with a bit less talent to a championship a season ago, Paul George has put together his share of unreal playoff performances over the years despite never playing for a serious contender and their depth is just flat-out silly with a number of guys that are able to come off the bench (Harrell, Williams, Patrick Beverley, Marcus Morris, Ivica Zubac) and wreak havoc on both ends of the floor on any given night.
2.Los Angeles Lakers: A notably weaker bench-especially with elite playoff performer Rajon Rondo out indefinitely after undergoing surgery on the thumb he injured in one of the first practices held in Orlando-is enough to put the Lakers behind the Clippers. Still, any team with LeBron James and Anthony Davis in its starting lineup is going to have an excellent chance to win the whole thing-particularly with the added emotional incentive to bring home a title to honor the lives/legacies of Kobe and Gianna Bryant.
3.Milwaukee Bucks: How can the team with the best regular season record be at #3? Simple, they don't have the championship pedigree of the LA teams and their top player (Giannis Antetokounmpo) while as ballsy and dominant as they come, has a game that isn't necessarily geared towards thriving in an environment where shooting/free throw shooting prowess becomes more important. That being said, their strong secondary scoring led Khris Middleton and suffocating defense makes them an undeniable top-tier contender.
4.Toronto Raptors: The defending champs can't be slept on. Kawhi Leonard may have been the driving force behind their title run, but this roster is still super talented (Kyle Lowry, Serge Ibaka, Marc Gasol, Norman Powell, Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam-the latter two of which especially balled out in the playoffs last season) and the East is as wide open as ever-especially without the home court advantage that has a tendency to dictate things out of the equation.
5.Boston Celtics: A collective inability to stay healthy made it difficult for the Celtics to ever settle into a real groove during the regular season. While Kemba Walker's knee remains a huge concern, they're currently as healthy as they've been since opening night last October and that could make them very dangerous. Their starting lineup is full of guys (Walker, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Gordan Hayward, Daniel Theis) who can score from anywhere and plus defenders who make up for their relative lack of size with relentless tenacity. If they can maintain their health and not have their lack of viable offensive players behind the first few spots on the bench (Marcus Smart, Enes Kanter, Brad Wanamaker) exposed, a Cinderella run could be on the table.
6.Denver Nuggets: The Nuggets have the unfortunate distinction of having the most guys whose arrival to the bubble was disrupted by the 'Rona. Key rotation players including Gary Harris and Torrey Craig just got to Orlando on Sunday and star Nikola Jokic has only been present for about 10 days after being medically cleared to travel from his home nation of Serbia following a battle with the virus in June. Those delays are likely going to make rust, conditioning, etc. a bigger problem for them than any other contender, but fortunately they still have enough veteran talent (Jamal Murray, Paul Millsap, Will Barton, Jerami Grant) in place to keep them afloat through the initial seeding slate while those key cogs get back in the swing of basketball and potentially allow them to compete at a high level come playoff time.
7.Miami Heat: The Heat may be the single biggest dark horse contender in the Bubble. Erik Spoelstra is an exceptional coach that knows how to get the most out of his players, their defense is downright stifling and Jimmy Butler, who balled out for the 76ers last postseason, is the first prime level superstar they've had since LeBron left town following the 2013-14 season. If I'm the Pacers, 76ers or Celtics, the Heat are the last team I'd want to draw in an opening round matchup.
8.Houston Rockets: This is probably too high for the Rockets since their two star players (James Harden, Russell Westbrook) have a habit of crapping themselves when the lights shine brightest and the center-less lineup that gave opponents headaches in the final few weeks of the regular season will likely be less effective with the consistent high-level defense that's played in the playoffs. That being said, they've brought in several excellent defenders (Robert Covington, Thabo Sefolosha, DeMarre Carroll) that should lower their odds of melting down on that end of the floor and their offense is just too damn explosive when it's clicking to write them off completely.
9.Philadelphia 76ers: Internal dysfunction and injuries that kept every one of their starters save for Tobias Harris out of the lineup for decent chunks of time prevented the 76ers from reaching their potential in the regular season. With a clean bill of health and a starting lineup (Harris, Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid, Al Horford, Josh Richardson) that is as talented and versatile on both ends of the floor as any team in the East, the 76ers could end up figuring things out in the Bubble-which could subsequently cause a huge disruption in the conference hierarchy.
10.Utah Jazz: Quin Snyder can always get a team to play their asses off and even without the injured Bojan Bogdanovoic, this Jazz team has more offensive firepower helping out their established hard-nosed corps (Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell, Joe Ingles, Royce O'Neale) than they're accustomed to with sound veteran point guard Mike Conley and bench scoring machine Jordan Clarkson joining their ranks this season. Regardless of how talented their opponents are, they'll be a tough out in the ultracompetitive Western Conference.
Just Missed the Cut: Indiana Pacers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Dallas Mavericks
Ultra Dark Horse (Team Not Currently in Playoff Position): New Orleans Pelicans
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